GooD GoVERNANCE NEEDS GooD LEADERS

Leaders – as in the German public sector at the moment – are not regularly trained for their leadership tasks through leadership exercises during their education. They obtain technical, sales, legislative, social science and other knowledge, which provides them with the ability to solve professional problems by using highly-qualified solutions. The more leadership responsi-bility and tasks they undertake, the more they depend on a knowledge that they could only have obtained outside their direct professional activity. They probably resort to the mental models of their profession: The jurist thinks that if he or she regulates something, it functions the same way in reality; the engineer may confuse the way a social system works with the functioning of a mechanical system; the social scientist risks getting bogged down in the quagmire of social in-teractions and may lose sight of the financials; the economist, most likely, only trusts in the power of numbers.

25 years ago, a commission in Baden-Württemberg studying new leadership structures pro-posed the establishment of a Leadership Academy. The starting point was the awareness of the fact that besides structural measures, a successfully performing public management depends on the quality of its leaders. The idea was based on the following core arguments:

• Leaders in public administration are in need of special and inter-disciplinary training. Spe-cially-trained and highly-qualified leaders ensure better quality public leadership. This is essential, and it is especially important in times of change.

• Politics depends on guidance and support from the public services. Only well-trained lead-ers, who are able to handle the tension between politics and public service can benefit the community.

• The training has to be tailored to the needs of Baden-Württemberg and must communicate a public-benefit-oriented philosophy, promote identification with the state, and provide a bridge between the public and private sectors.

Vezetés válság idején I Az I. MCC Nemzetközi Leadership Konferencián elhangzott elôadások leiratai

These observations led to a qualifications offensive. Our concept of the qualification of lead-ers is to provide the framework conditions for the plead-ersonal development of future leadlead-ers. When people and organizations learn, they change. Learning means changing attitudes. For this, the student has to go through a learning process during which he or she identifies his/her own expe-riences, defies challenges and collects new knowledge, plans activities and tries him/herself, and reassesses the acquired experiences. Learning to lead means becoming familiar with your values, assessing your own leadership competencies, putting them next to a different picture, getting hold of feedback on the effects of your own leadership behaviour, developing new forms of be-haviour and integrating them in your own pool of bebe-haviours. Consequently, learning to lead means unfolding your competencies, developing and enlarging your pool of behaviours, and using them in a target-oriented manner. Learning to lead affects the whole personality. Learn-ing to lead needs time. LearnLearn-ing to lead is therefore the systematic and life-long development of leadership behaviour.

Based on these principles, in 1986, the Führungsakademie established the first fifteen-months-long leadership course for particularly well qualified leadership talents. This course in-cludes two internships: one in the domestic economic sector and one abroad. This process and project-oriented course develops practical competencies. In addition to strategic projects, or-ganization studies are also performed in state-level administration. Since 2001, the Führung-sakademie has been functioning as a competency centre for organizational and personal devel-opment for the qualification of public services. The academy connects the develdevel-opment of public institutions in a learning organization with the development of their members, especially their leaders. It intends to offer a practical approach and a contribution to the development of sustainability in public administration based on its self-definition.

Whoever wishes to be prepared for the future should also stand in readiness for crises as well.

Crisis-management with the potential for success starts well before any crisis itself and, in the best case, when a crisis does loom, such management makes it avoidable. Based on my under-standing of leadership and the exemplified requirements of a preventive, precautionary crisis-management, the Führungsakademie also makes a specific contribution to shaping the state ad-ministration of Baden-Württemberg to be more resistant to crisis. Basically, it depends on having appropriate leaders, who take responsibility for themselves and their organization, and develop the two systematically and continuously.

In conclusion, I would like to sum up the requirements of good leaders in five tenets:

• Good leaders can be recognized by the fact that they plan strategically, and face the chal-lenges of their environment, and the strengths and weaknesses of their organizations in a sensitive and careful manner. They develop long-term visions concerning the correct path to be taken and transform their ideas into tangible goals.

• Good leaders can be recognized by the fact that they always do what they say. They link goals together and remain faithful to them. They allocate resources appropriately and drive the processes towards the optimum. They check results.

• Good leaders can be recognized by the fact that they live up to established values. They are involved in an intensive communication process with the employees. They think compre-hensively and let all levels participate. They decide responsibly and act ethically.

• Good leaders can be recognized by the fact that they are able to learn and wish to learn.

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Leadership in Times of Crisis I Lectures from the First MCC International Leadership Conference

Leadership in Public Services I Thomas E. Berg

They can relinquish their mental models and take in new perspectives. They can further unfold their potential and put it into action flexibly. They use opportunities for profes-sional and collegial coaching.

• Good leaders can be recognized by the fact that they promote qualified new leaders and bind them to the corporation. They invest in personal quality. They intertwine competen-cies and promote the exchange of knowledge. They set their employees in motion. They recognize performance and identification.

Vezetés válság idején I Az I. MCC Nemzetközi Leadership Konferencián elhangzott elôadások leiratai

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Leadership in Times of Crisis I Lectures from the First MCC International Leadership Conference